Chapter 755: Different (1)
“We couldn’t even tell what was supposed to be different between dreams and reality! The Kim Misters were having the time of their lives, though~.”
Yun Yun said it like she found the whole thing entertaining. Then again, there probably wasn’t much difference for goblins. They already flew around, teleported from place to place, and hated fighting. The only thing left was maybe eating tons of good food. And that was something they could do in real life too.
“But is Boss Kim Mister’s sister?”
“…What?”
“She looks like him. Doesn’t she?”
Yun Yun pointed at the Puppeteer. Beside him, Park Hayul was asleep, slumped over like he’d been crumpled up and tossed there.
“They do look alike, but calling him a wom… no, that’s not right either.”
If you ran a genetic test, the results might come back close enough to call them the same person.
“Anyway, calling us family would be weird, but he’s a man.”
“Back where Boss Kim Mister comes from, wasn’t anyone with long hair a woman until like a hundred years ago? No? His hair is super long.”
“Well… men started cutting their hair once things modernized, but these days there are guys who grow it out too. And…”
Was I seriously about to give sex ed to a goblin who didn’t even have fixed biological sex? Didn’t goblin school teach this stuff?
“You go to a hospital, get tested, and check someone’s chromosomes. These days there are even people who can turn into dragons, so you can’t judge by appearances.”
There could be species that changed sex like clownfish, for all I knew. Goblins themselves were sexless to begin with. The world was moving past multicultural and multiracial into multispecies. Hell, I still didn’t know Peace’s sex. If you did a genetic test on monsters, would it tell you?
The Puppeteer watched me explain all that to Yun Yun without saying a word, then smiled and lifted a hand slightly. I got a bad feeling immediately.
“When you get to the level of a transcendent, changing your sex is—”
“Yeah, no thanks!”
Don’t do weird things with my face! Sure, maybe you could do it at that level, but don’t!
“So, Yujin, would you rather have an older sister or an older brother?”
“I don’t need either, and why are you even acting like you’re my si— anyway, we’re not that kind of relationship in the first place!”
“I think having an older sister would be nice~.”
Yerim looked at the Puppeteer with bright, eager eyes. Park Yerim, are you just doing this because you think it’s funny? If Miss Hyunah had been here, she absolutely would’ve egged them on and told them to both transform and compare. Seong Hyunjae probably would’ve too… though maybe not now.
“Don’t even think about doing anything stupid! If you’re going to do it, at least change the face too!”
“Here, I added a beauty mark. Different now, isn’t it?”
“It looks exactly the same!”
“Wasn’t that enough to make someone a completely different person where you’re from?”
Had he been watching dramas next to sleeping Sigma or something? Seriously, his personality was awful. Sigma must’ve suffered living with that guy.
“Mr. Puppeteer, why don’t we stop here and help Yun Yun use her skill instead? Yun Yun, the building in front of the Breeding Facility, please. The Facility itself collapsed.”
Though maybe Gyeol had already fixed it. Yun Yun nodded, and the Puppeteer steadied the mana around her so she could use her skill.
“Did I tell you? It’ll take anywhere from one to two days for the system to settle in, so you can rest for a bit.”
“You really need to rest, hyung.”
“That’s right. Don’t do anything. Just rest.”
Yuhyun and Yerim looked at me with matching concern. It wasn’t exactly the kind of situation where I could relax, but I did need time to sort out my head. Peace, who’d grown big again now that I couldn’t use my skill, carefully brushed his mane against my back. I leaned into him and hugged him. A small portal opened in front of Yun Yun.
“The mana over there’s unstable, so I can’t make it very big!”
“As long as Peace can fit through, that’s enough. There’s not much to bring anyway. Thanks.”
“No problem~.”
Right on cue, I heard two sets of footsteps from the second floor. I let go of Peace and straightened up. For some reason, turning toward the stairs felt uncomfortable.
‘That bastard may be at peace, but I’m still exactly the same.’
Even if he hadn’t really had a choice, since Crescent Moon would’ve dragged him off if he stayed, the more I thought about it, the more my temper crept up. From my perspective, all that had happened was that someone I’d been getting along with—more or less as a friend—had suddenly flipped on me. And what was I even supposed to tell everyone else? I did have to explain it, but…
‘Seong Hyunjae decided he wanted to live because of me…’
Yeah. Even if no one else did, Gyeol would absolutely go berserk and start trying to beat Seong Hyunjae to death with his little marshmallow fists. They’d actually gotten a lot closer, too. Really, it was probably best to hide it if I could. Swallowing a sigh, I turned my head. Seong Hyunjae and Chief Song Taewon were walking toward us.
“Mister Sesung, are you okay?”
At Yerim’s question, Seong Hyunjae only gave the slightest nod. Yerim blinked, thrown off. Wait, what the hell? Why was he acting cold to Yerim too? I thought he’d only erased his feelings for me. Chief Song stopped first. His eyes flicked to me with faint concern. I smiled soundlessly to show him I was fine.
Seong Hyunjae walked right past us and stopped in front of the Puppeteer. He looked straight at him.
“Your name.”
The abrupt, clipped question made the Puppeteer arch a brow.
“That’s none of your business.”
“I think it is.”
Seong Hyunjae stepped closer—then closer still, until he was right in the Puppeteer’s space.
“If that is his doll, then it is my doll as well.”
“I don’t deal with things that aren’t cute.”
The Puppeteer’s gaze turned cold. His face went blank, and that was colder still. What was Seong Hyunjae’s problem all of a sudden? He hadn’t shown much interest in the Puppeteer this whole time. The tension in the air tightened until I couldn’t take it anymore and stepped forward.
“Seong Hyunjae! Why are you picking a fight with Mr. Puppeteer—”
My body jerked backward.
Yuhyun. My brother pulled me into his arms, and Chief Song stepped in front of us.
Almost at the same instant—
KRA-KOOM!
Light flashed. Just the aftershock of the bolt that slammed down was enough to char the sleeve over Chief Song’s raised forearm black. Even standing behind him, I felt the sting of static all over my skin.
“Chief Song! A potion!”
“It’s only a light burn.”
Chief Song retreated with us as he spoke. My eyes caught the scorched floor and ceiling. The place where the Puppeteer had been standing was completely wrecked. Then I heard it—a sharp metallic rattle. Seong Hyunjae’s hand was clamped hard around the Puppeteer’s wrist. The chains circling them creaked and shuddered as if something invisible had snagged them.
“So you can use your skill.”
The Puppeteer spoke first, and Seong Hyunjae answered like it was nothing.
“With all that has built up inside me, it isn’t difficult. It’s only that the mana of a world made from dreams has been thrown out of balance.”
“Since when?”
“Since after I died. Before that, didn’t I have to conserve my body?”
…Back when he was following along while leaning on me. If I succeeded, he would’ve had time to slowly examine everything that had piled up inside him without having to push himself. But that wasn’t the case anymore. My teeth clenched on their own.
“A doll should act like a doll.”
“Says the man who’s still only S-Rank.”
“Why so prickly?”
Those gold eyes smiled. He tugged on the Puppeteer’s captured wrist, dragging his hand up against his own chest. The Puppeteer’s fingertips twitched.
“You can’t even hurt me while you’re busy carrying that little one around inside you.”
The Puppeteer’s eyes turned vicious. A laugh of pure disbelief burst out of him.
“You really don’t have a single lovable quality, do you? Hey, Han Yujin. Why the hell do you keep a guy like this around?”
“…Well.”
I mean, at first I’d leaned a lot closer to hating him too.
“Anyway, stop it!”
Normally he would’ve looked at me. He would’ve answered, at least. But there was no reaction at all. Yerim muttered that Mister Sesung was acting weird. It wasn’t weird. This was just the original Seong Hyunjae. But somehow, now it felt strange.
“Where is Sigma?”
“You have nothing to do with my kid. I’m going to make sure of that, so stay out of it.”
“That’s harsh. I happen to value myself quite a bit. Naturally, that makes me want at least a look at my own face.”
“Go look in a mirror.”
The Puppeteer vanished. A moment later he reappeared several meters away, and the weapons Gyeol had left behind came flying toward him as if yanked by magnets. His white fingertips flicked the hilt of one approaching sword. The blade spun in midair and shot toward Seong Hyunjae like an arrow.
It was more a threat than an attack. There was no way Seong Hyunjae couldn’t dodge it.
But he didn’t move so much as the tip of his shoe.
He only stood there, quietly watching the sword fly straight at his chest.
“You little—”
The Puppeteer swore.
CRACK!
The sword shattered just in front of Seong Hyunjae. Deflected shards of metal skimmed his cheek and scratched lightly across his body. The Puppeteer sneered and swept his long hair back.
“I cannot believe my kid grew up into a piece of shit like that.”
“What can be done? It is reality. So you should behave yourself in front of your master.”
“Want me to rip your tongue out?”
The air between them tightened again. Chains slithered across the floor toward Seong Hyunjae’s feet, and Song Taewon finally spoke.
“That’s enough.”
Chief Song stepped forward.
“One of the reasons I agreed to help Hunter Seong Hyunjae was to ensure other people’s safety as well.”
“If Chief Song Taewon is stepping in.”
Seong Hyunjae turned to him and took one step back.
“Then I’ll leave it here. I am in a position where I need your help, after all.”
…I was relieved Chief Song could get through to him, but it also stung a little. Was he really not going to listen to a single word I said anymore? Maybe the only reason he was acting like that with the Puppeteer now was because it had nothing to do with me anymore. Before, maybe he’d held back for my sake.
“But don’t trust that thing too easily. It only wears Han Yujin’s face. It is still a transcendent.”
As he put Seeker’s Chain into his inventory, Seong Hyunjae went on,
“If it had a stranger’s face, you wouldn’t have accepted it this easily.”
“We’re more than cautious enough.”
Seong Hyunjae’s gaze passed over Chief Song and landed on me. My shoulders twitched before I could stop them. Come to think of it, maybe I had trusted the Puppeteer too easily. I’d accepted the story that Sigma had taken my doppelganger doll without doubting it once. There was proof in the contract, sure, but I had no way of knowing whether the doll had really become a transcendent or some completely unrelated transcendent had gotten hold of Sigma and was just pretending to be the doll.
“Wow, that asshole’s personality is even worse.”
The Puppeteer clicked his tongue at Seong Hyunjae. The weapons floating around him with little creaking noises, like they were hanging from strings, dropped to the floor. The clatter rang out one after another.
“…Anyway, it is true that Mr. Puppeteer couldn’t properly attack Mr. Seong Hyunjae.”
I motioned for Yun Yun, who’d retreated all the way into a corner, to come back over.
“At the very least, I’m sure he truly cares about Sigma.”
“If it weren’t for my kid, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.”
“That doesn’t mean I trust you completely, though. In the end—”
I turned to look at the Puppeteer. Eyes like mine, but not mine, met mine.
“Protecting Sigma is what matters most to you. If you had to choose between us and Sigma, the answer would be obvious.”
“Of course it would.”
For now, trusting him was probably fine, but just like Seong Hyunjae said, we couldn’t let our guard down. The Puppeteer and we were after different things.
“That scared me so bad I almost woke up from the dream!”
Yun Yun flapped her hands and hurried us along, telling us to get to Seoul already. I glanced once at Seong Hyunjae, then headed for the portal.
“What is Mister Sesung’s deal, seriously? What happened to him?”
Yerim pressed close to me and whispered. I couldn’t really explain, so I just gave her an awkward smile.
“Well… it’s not exactly the first time.”
“I guess, but still.”
Yeah. It wasn’t exactly new. And this time, at least, he had trusted me and left things in my hands. If he’d just cut me off cleanly and said, You failed, so I’m done with you, I would’ve felt sick. Instead, he’d basically said he’d come back the moment another method turned up. So I was letting it slide.
I was still pissed, though.
“It looks like Gyeol rebuilt the house!”
A familiar sight came into view. A wall had been raised again around the grounds of the Breeding Facility, which the monster attack had destroyed. The street looked normal too. Only the sky was unfamiliar.
The moon had pulled far away now. It was still more than ten times larger than normal, but it no longer felt suffocating. Slowly moving stars had filled the empty space it left behind. One star shone alone, brighter than the rest. Another was wrapped in dozens of tiny lights. There was a pair like twins, one that blinked and darted around, one faint and utterly still… all kinds of gazes were fixed on the earth.
“…Let’s go inside.”
The sky felt heavy. I needed a roof over my head. I headed for the building entrance, and then—
Jingle.
The convenience store door swung wide open.
“Dad! Can I eat all of this? It’s a dream!”
Han Byeol came tumbling out, arms loaded with every kind of snack imaginable. Unlike the stars in the sky, this was one that made me smile just by looking at her. Han Seol and Gyeol came chasing after her.
“Byeol! Dad is real! You can’t eat that stuff!”
“You don’t need to save any for Father. Eat it all.”
Kids, seriously. Had Gyeol brought me here because he was worried about me? Seeing them really did make something inside me settle.
“You’re not supposed to eat… just have one.”
I scooped Byeol up as she ran toward me, dropping snacks all over the place. Gyeol, who was picking up what had fallen, looked past us. Seong Hyunjae’s gaze was on him. Gyeol gave a little hmph and nodded like, See?
“Look at that. He’s totally fine. There’s nothing to worry about! Dad, let’s get inside.”
“R-right. Let’s go.”
Don’t say anything useless, Seong Hyunjae. Keep your mouth shut. Thankfully, he didn’t speak to Gyeol. Before Gyeol could notice anything off, I hurried inside the building.
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt
